The Ultimate Capture: Chapter 1
by Lyta
Summary: Ash stumbles across a mysterious flame and a red stone . . .


The Ultimate Capture  
Chapter 1: The Icy Flame  
Ash and friends were walking down the road when, suddenly, they noticed a bright flash in the sky.   
"Pika-pika-chu!" cried the little electric rodent, Pikachu, who was in the middle of having a stretch.   
"Whoa! Fireworks, in the afternoon!?" shouted Ash. Brock and Misty were still staring for anything falling or moving. After a few minutes of gawking, they rested on a rock. "Man, that was wierd. I wonder if mabye it was a Poke'mon!" exclaimed Ash. Misty shrugged and Brock stood very still, with his head in his hands. It looked as though he were thinking really hard, but Misty noticed a small blue flame on the ground below them.   
Ash slid off of the immense gray boulder to take a look at the flame. It was not attached to the ground, but it was floating gently about a centimetre above a small pinkish-red rock. Ash slowly reached down to touch the tiny azure flame.   
"Yeeooow!" he shrieked.   
"Is it hot Ash?" asked Misty, who had quietly slipped off the rock to see the flame just before Ash.   
"Noo..ow..it's freezing..ah..cold," he said. Brock slid down and observed the red rock. "Hey, this is a Fire Stone!" he said excitedly.   
Ash, Brock, Misty, and Pikachu headed off. Brock had somehow put the mysterious blue flame in a small bottle and picked up the Fire Stone. A sudden beeping was heard. Ash recognized it as Dexter, his faithful "tell all" Poke'dex which helped him identify certain items related to Poke'mon and Poke'mon themselves. Ash took out his mechanical talking friend and flipped open the cover. The blue light flashed.   
"Fire Stone. Used to evolve certain fire Poke'mon that cannot evolve by level." Ash was about to tuck it away when it beeped again. "Articuno. A legendary bird Poke'mon said to wait in plain sight', and appear to doomed people lost in icy mountains." Ash put his Poke'dex away and began looking around excitedly. He had heard of the legendary bird trio and was definitetly looking forward to seeing and capturing them. Brock was staring again, only this time at the shimmering translucent Fire Stone.   
"Hey, it's Pallet!" shouted Ash. He smiled at his hometown and started to make a beeline for it. Misty and Brock trailed.  
Obviously, the Articuno Dexter was talking about must have been a glitch, because there wasn't a single Poke'mon in sight. Ash had decided to . At Ash's house, Brock made an important phone call to Vermilion City.   
"Hello?" came a pretty female voice.   
"He..ll..o, i-is th-this S-s-suzy?" answered Brock. "Yes it is, who's calling?"   
"It's B-brock, you know, th-the one that is t-taking care of V-vulpix?"   
"Oh! Hello Brock. It's nice to hear from you. How is my old Vulpix doing?"   
"Just wonderful," said Brock, becoming more confident in the big question he had to ask. "That's great, Brock. I knew you would make a great trainer for Vulpix. it seemed to trust and like you at my salon even though you had never met it before."   
"Yeah, I guess so," said Brock, blushing.   
"So Brock, is there any particular reason for this long distance phone call?"  
"Uh, y-yeah. Um, well, you see, I uh,"  
"Yes?"   
Gulp. "C-can I use this Fire Stone I found to evolve your Vulpix into a Ninetales?"   
"Oh, Brock, how did you ever manage to get a Fire Stone?"  
"I, uh found one."  
"What!? They're incredibly rare in the wilderness!"  
"Yeah, I just, uh, got lucky."   
"Well, I tried for years to save up enough money for a Fire Stone. But so many other things demanded my time and money, so I gave up hope. I wanted Vulpix to evolve so much, because Ninetales is my favorite Poke'mon. I would love it if you could make my dream come true for me. And mabye somehow, I could see it one day."   
"Thanks so much Suzy! I mean, Vulpix is nice and all, but a Ninetales! And there's nothing on Earth that could stop me from letting you see Ninetales."  
"That's the best news I've heard all week! Thank you so much Brock, I owe you for this!"  
"Aw, gee, Suzy, just having the Ninetales is good enough!"  
"Oh Brock, words can't describe how grateful I am. Thank you so much."  
"Sure, no problem. Say, would you like to visit us? We're heading to Viridian so Ash can get an Earth badge."   
"Wow! You've gone a long way! So, where are you staying for now?"  
"We're at Ash's house, in Pallet."   
"Well, Brock, I think that's incredible how far you've gotten in such a short time. I'll get to the Viridian Hotel as soon as possible. I should be there in about, well, let's see . . . three days. Is that alright?"  
"Anytime that's fine for you is fine for me!"   
"Great I'll see you and Vulpix, oh, that is, Ninetales in Viridian. Of course Ash, Misty and Pikachu too."   
"O.K. I'll see you there. Bye."  
"Goodbye Brock, and thanks for calling!" Click. The line went dead. Brock hung up, his heart fluttering like a Butterfree.   
"Hey, Brock!" called Ash. Brock pranced into the living room.   
"Whoa, talk about sugar high," giggled Misty.   
"Guess who I just talked to?" asked Brock in a rather sing songy voice.   
"Suzy," laughed Ash.   
"Hey are you psychic or something?" teased Brock.   
"We heard you say Suzy a number of times, as well as the stuff about Ninetales, and meeting her in Viridian." explained Misty.   
"Eavesdroppers," whispered Brock to himself.   
"Hey Brock, bring that flame over her for a sec," asked Ash. Brock lifted it carefully from his little shoulder bag, and handed it gently to Ash. The Poke'dex beeped again. Ash pulled it out. The blue light flashed and it indicated the the flame in the bottle was none other than . . . Articuno!  
  



End file.
